Wicked bass solo

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~Z~
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Wicked bass solo

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Garry K
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Re: Wicked bass solo

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Bass solos? When are people going to realize that the bass is for *rhythm* and not melody!? :-) Being a musician myself (a melody player, mostly), I always got a kick out of the "musicians wanted" ads at places like the Metro Times. There always seemed to be a LOT of ads that wanted bass players for bands, but the ads would also say, "NO 5 or 6-string bassists!" and "NO converted guitar players!" That's because those bassists don't want to play the bass "straight" and instead they want to be a melody player. What they should really do is play a different instrument.

In my Cajun/zydeco band, I once had a "jazz" style bassist. Tonnerre mes chiens! That's a Cajun expression that literally translates to "thunder my dogs!" but it is meant as a "what the heck" (or substitute some other words for the heck!). Anyway, this converted jazz bassist could not/would not just play a straight beat in 4/4 time for folks that wanted to dance a Cajun two-step. He would always try to syncopate everything, then he would get a quarter beat off of the main beat, then us other band members would adjust to his new timing, then he would throw the timing off again. Changing the beat plays heck with folks trying to dance! I had to get a new bass player ASAP.

Then there was bassist Gary Thain of the rock band Uriah Heep who could play lots of extra notes, but he would play in time with the beat! A good example is his playing on "Easy Living" at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6c7ceMUZZl8. Thain does throw in some extra runs, including the triplet-runs, but he plays on the beat.

Garry K

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SD80MAC
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Re: Wicked bass solo

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People can play bass however they want, man. It's mindsets like that ^ that make people not interested in playing instruments anymore. "You can ONLY play it this way, you moron!!!"
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Y@
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Re: Wicked bass solo

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I thought I chased Garry K off the site years ago? MUSIC IS ONLY WHAT I SAY IT IS
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Garry K
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Re: Wicked bass solo

Unread post by Garry K »

SD80MAC wrote:People can play bass however they want, man. It's mindsets like that ^ that make people not interested in playing instruments anymore. "You can ONLY play it this way, you moron!!!"
Of course, folks can play their instruments any way they want; however, if they actually expect most folks to LISTEN to them, they will play a bit more conventionally! I have heard way too many bass or drum "solos" at concerts in my lifetime, and almost without exception, they are boring and tedious to listen to.

It's the same thing with folks who add "death metal" or some other obnoxious music to railroad videos. You can add that kind of music to your videos, but for those of us who would rather hear actual *train* sounds, we'll just click the "back" button and skip your video.

Garry K
PS Nobody has run me off from anything! Nobody has been man enough to even try.

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